The UK has seen a significant leap in demand for health and fitness operations over the last decade, with a plethora of gym chains expanding their footprint across the country alongside a number of new niche fitness concepts being introduced. As a result, the UK fitness industry has an estimated market value of £5.1 billion in 2019, up 4.2 per cent compared to the year before, according to LeisureDB.

While the lockdown has halted many aspects of everyday life, health and wellbeing have remained a top priority for much of the population. The restrictive measures imposed have required UK gyms to close indefinitely, forcing many operators to freeze customer payments while shifting their focus towards online methods to  serve current and potential future customers remotely.

There are numerous examples of continued customer interaction during this time, including PureGym (with over one million members across the UK) launching multiple new services to its app including home workouts, on-demand video classes and discounts on third-party equipment providers. 

Similarly, both Nuffield and David Lloyd have provided comparable offers to their members. Schemes including free trial periods and price protection for when gyms reopen are also likely to attract new customers.

But how are some of the smaller gym operators coping? 

Over the last five years, the boutique fitness market in central London has  rapidly expanded with 117 new openings since 2015, 29 of which opened last year alone. Many of these smaller operators offer a particular service or type of training which will continue to attract customers through the use of live streaming or pre-recorded workouts. 

FlyLDN, for example, is offering free yoga, pilates and barre sessions daily via Instagram Live, with other operators offering similar models, including Psycle, Barry’s Bootcamp and KOBOX.  Likewise, CoreCollective is providing a seven-day free trial with a range of classes before opening to a reduced-rate monthly subscription.

While this is undoubtedly a difficult time for smaller businesses in the UK, it seems many boutique gym operators are optimising this period to not only support existing customers but also extend their reach to a much broader audience.  

As many people are getting used to the idea of exercising from home, will this time accelerate the growing demand for a more diversified health and fitness offer? If so, we could see a lot of these operators continue to provide an aspect of their business online via paid-for sessions after the pandemic.

The unknown at this point is how long social distancing measures will be in place once the lockdown is relaxed and what this may mean for fitness operators. In China, while some restrictions have now eased, social distancing measures are still in place meaning that capacity in some gyms/fitness studios is reduced, suggesting we could see the same here once we reach the same stage. 

Reduced capacity will have cashflow implications for operators and in turn landlords. However, those who have diversified and are able to monetise this, may be better placed to weather a more drawn out recovery once lockdown eases.

Further information 

Contact Savills Leisure